Dying Confession
by SplendentGoddess
Summary: An unexpected battle occurs during the new moon. Now, a very human and very injured Inuyasha lies dying in Kaede's hut. Can he make it until sunrise? Kagome won't leave his side until dawn, and he refuses to leave this world, without first telling her…


Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

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~ Dying Confession ~

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Kagome gripped Inuyasha tightly as they flew atop Kirara back towards Kaede's hut. Fortunately, they were less than ten minutes away by neko flight. Upon reaching the hut, she threw the reed mat aside so hard as she entered that it crashed against the wall, making her presence known in a heartbeat to the elderly miko whose heart _skipped_ a beat until she realized just who it was that had entered her home so hastily. Then, upon witnessing the scene before her, Kagome holding up a semi-conscious, human Inuyasha, who covered both himself and Kagome in his blood, Kaede's heart skipped yet another beat as she quickly commanded the young miko to lay Inuyasha down upon the futon.

...

The youkai had come out of nowhere.

Making camp for the night, Inuyasha protested when the others refused to press on until sunrise, though it was for his own good. Kagome insisted that _she_ was too tired to continue, and though he doubted it to be true, he couldn't very well argue against the apparent well-being of Kagome, so reluctantly, the hanyou-turned-human plopped himself down against the base of a tree. Everything seemed fine at first, as Inuyasha observed the others at work, laying out their sleeping rolls, preparing a small fire, etc. He cracked a small smile when he saw Kagome preparing their ramen dinner. After eating, he had to admit he felt better, almost content even. A feeling he'd learned long ago not to allow himself, as it caused one to drop their guard.

Suddenly, the inhaling gasp of Kagome, followed by the declaration from Shippou that he smelled something strange, caused Inuyasha to bolt to attention, while once again cursing his human form and dulled senses.

"What is it Kagome!" he asked frantically.

"I…I sense a jewel shard, coming fast!" was her troubled reply.

Then it was Shippou who got everyone's attention when he suddenly proclaimed he could smell snake.

As if waiting for its introduction, the trees beside them suddenly gave way to allow the appearance of said snake-youkai, who'd grown abnormally huge thanks to the jewel shard lodged in its head. If anything were going good for them at that moment, it was that Miroku claimed he sensed no poisons from the snake, indicating that it wasn't venomous. But dealing with a constrictor large enough to choke an elephant to death was still no walk in the park. Inuyasha made the first strike, as one would expect, except that the unresponsive Tetsusaiga merely bounced off the snake's armor-like scales. With the slightest turn of its body the snake pounded itself against Inuyasha, launching him into the air with a startled cry. Thankfully, Sango's quick thinking saved him from a nasty landing as she managed to catch him atop Kirara.

"Inuyasha, let us handle this. It's too dangerous for you right now." the slayer insisted.

"Feh! I can handle a dumb ol' snake. I don't need humans to fight my battles for me!"

"Inuyasha, you are human as well, at the moment, and your weapon obviously has no effect." Miroku attempted to reason.

"Feh."

Dropping Inuyasha off back upon the forest floor, Sango quickly took flight once more, thrusting her Hiraikotsu at the unearthly serpent. It, as well, did little to no damage to the creature's unnaturally armored body. Inuyasha was getting more aggravated by the second, knowing full well that his Tetsusaiga could finish the thing off in a heart beat if only the stupid sword still worked when he was human. Kagome quickly realized there was no real way they were ever going to defeat the snake-youkai until they got the jewel shard out of its head, so she tried her best to do just that, firing arrow after arrow, which the snake unfortunately kept dodging. The ones that did still strike the snake were off target because it'd shifted, and though her sacred arrows seemed to do the most damage to its body above any of their other attacks, it still wouldn't be enough to bring the creature down. Miroku became worried when he realized the youkai hadn't really fought back, yet, and judging from the expression on its face, if such a face could truly give off an expression, the serpent appeared to be assessing their abilities. The holy man had an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach that this youkai was going to be trouble, and he wished he could just suck it up with his kazanna and be done with it, but its jewel shard stilled his hand. He couldn't absorb it while it was in possession of a jewel shard, so something else would have to be done.

Suddenly, the monk was pulled from his thoughts when the snake-youkai fully emerged itself from the forest, engulfing their entire campsite with its huge, slithering body, trapping them all within a wall of snake as it circled around them. He tried tossing a few sacred sutra at the creature, which sizzled and burned upon contact, but even they left little more than a small mark upon its skin, something not bothersome enough for the serpent to even acknowledge.

Kagome yelled out that they had to get the shard from its head, that that was the only way to defeat it. Sango again flung the Hiraikotsu, that time aiming straight for its head, but unable to see the exact spot where the shard was located she was pretty much flying blind. Missing the shard, she _did_ manage to strike one of the snake's eyes. That gave the inu-tachi an advantage; now that the thing was blind in one eye, they all began to approach it from that side. It was still fast, though, and like any wounded animal, it proved to be even more dangerous with its injury as it began fiercely thrashing and thrusting its body in retaliation. Sango was out of harm's way while atop Kirara, but Kagome, Inuyasha, and Miroku were all trapped on the ground.

Suddenly, they noticed that the wall of snake was getting closer and closer from all directions.

_Oh no you don't,_ thought Miroku as he approached the youkai's head, tossing more sutra towards the remaining eye. Unfortunately, the youkai darted its head away just in time, then darting back, it opened its mouth, launching out its tongue towards Miroku. _What the hell?_ was his next thought, as the spiritual barrier he emitted from his staff saved him just in the nick of time. The snake's tongue was like a snake of its own, opening and closing what seemed like a mouth, as if it were a hand, to grab hold of its prey and pull it into the beast's mouth.

From her vantage point, Sango could see Inuyasha again making his way towards the creature, stealthfully creeping up on its blind side. He thought to lunge Tetsusaiga right into its head, knocking the shard free, saving the day. Typical Inuyasha plan.

"Kagome!" the taijiya called, "We need a distraction!"

Nodding, Kagome turned behind her, calling out "Shippou! I've got a job for you!"

The kitsune child had so far been doing his best to stay hidden and out of everyone's way, but at Kagome's words he got a wave of courage, as he thought, _I must be brave, I must help save my friends_. Of course, that thought was right before the kit turned tail to run away, though Kagome caught him.

Miroku could see Kagome whispering something to Shippou, so he took up a position to attack the snake-youkai again, flinging more sutra towards its face. That time, he was prepared for the retaliation attack, and when the 'tongue' came hurling towards him, he dodged, smashing his staff against it in the process, which caused it to flash, burn, and fall off at the point of impact.

"Way to go, Miroku!" a youthful voice cried in excitement.

Suddenly, Shippou appeared before the creature, and in true kitsune fashion, he began teasing the reptile, placing his hands at the sides of his head with the pads of his thumbs pressed against his temples, wiggling his other fingers in the air, and sticking out his tongue to further illustrate the point. The look was one that could _only _be described as "Naa Naa Na-Na Naa!"

When the low level beast instinctively made a lunge with the now missing tongue, its open mouth became bombarded with acorns. Kagome took that opportunity to fire off another arrow, that time aimed at the snake's other eye, which struck true, successfully blinding it.

Simultaneous cheers of "You did it!" were quickly replaced with gasps of surprise and horror as everyone dodged out of the way of the now crazily thrashing snake body, which attempted to hit anything and everything within its reach. Though it was true the snake could no longer see, or smell, Kagome realized, remembering from her zoology lessons that snakes smelled with their tongues, it apparently could still hear _very_ well. Snakes in fact had no ears at all, but could hear by sensing vibrations in the ground. Apparently realizing this itself, the snake-youkai suddenly calmed its thrashings, becoming perfectly still. The others weren't sure what to do, but when Miroku made one single step, the snake launched its head down in his direction, mouth open and teeth blaring, ready to swallow him whole. Fortunately, the barrier from his staff was enough to block the shard-enhanced youkai's attack a second time.

The Hiraikotsu striking its lower body was enough of a distraction for it to turn around, and _that_ was when Inuyasha finally made his move. He leapt upon the snake, shoving his Tetsusaiga down into the creature's skull. It went in far enough to stay in place, and the hanyou-turned-human suddenly found himself having to hold onto the Tetsusaiga for dear life, as the snake-youkai began violently flinging itself around a second time. Apparently, he'd missed the shard, but not by much he learned when Kagome shouted out to him that it was just about an inch closer to the nose. Kneeling down upon the youkai's head, Inuyasha punched the spot Kagome indicated with all his strength, successfully dislodging the shard. Upon the shard fleeing the youkai's body, the snake immediately began to shrink in size, at a rapid enough rate that Inuyasha lost his balance, and his grip on Tetsusaiga, as he fell quite a significant ways to the ground.

Kagome cried out for him to run, but before he could stumble to his feet and shake the stars from his vision, the now smaller, yet still _large enough_ snake youkai lunged at him, clamping his midsection with its jaw. Before, the snake's head and mouth had been large enough to swallow a man whole, without even the need for dislocating its jaw. Now, its head and mouth were much smaller, comparable in diameter to a soccer ball, though in the world of snakes, that was _still _pretty damn large. Said snakehead was also currently latched around Inuyasha's abdomen, piercing him with six-inch fangs.

Kagome was about to fire another arrow at the youkai when she realized in horror that she was out. Screaming to Sango that she was out of arrows, the youkai exterminator launched her weapon one last time, and _that_ time, the boomerang had a more desired effect, cleanly slicing the snake's body in half at a distance as close to the head as she had dared without risk of hitting Inuyasha in the process. Hauntingly, the now very deceased head of the very deceased snake-youkai was still clamped down around Inuyasha's stomach. Carefully, Miroku and Sango began to pry it off of him, while he lied moaning in pain on the ground, before Kagome could voice that that might not be the best idea and that they should probably leave it. Upon freeing the jaw from Inuyasha's body, it was like pulling a cork stopper that had had him plugged up, and now, the puncture wounds were bleeding profusely.

Sango gasped.

Kagome screamed.

Inuyasha groaned.

Well, at least he was still awake.

Crying for Kirara, who promptly transformed before them, Kagome showed amazing strength as she somehow managed to lift Inuyasha, by herself, upon the neko's back, before quickly climbing atop of Kirara herself. Without a word to either Sango, Miroku, or Shippou, Kagome yelled to Kirara "Quickly! To Kaede's!" and the three of them were gone in a blaze of flame.

...

Kagome was trying really hard not to be hysterical, but no matter what, she couldn't stop the tears from falling. With Kaede's help, she had removed Inuyasha's suikan and kosode, and had done her best at bandaging his wounds. But they were so deep, she feared that he had massive internal bleeding, and sunup was still several hours away. Inuyasha was drifting in and out of consciousness, moaning and groaning in pain, and muttering Kagome's name brokenly. Thank the kami that Miroku had been right, and the snake had at least not been venomous, or Inuyasha would already be dead. It was all they could do now to wait for dawn, so Kaede excused herself, leaving the miko and hanyou alone.

"You've gotta make it until sunrise, Inuyasha! Just make it till sunrise!" she pleaded desperately.

"Ka...gome? You're…safe?" he asked in return, consciousness staying with him for the moment.

"Yes. Yes, we're all safe. You saved us." she answered, forcing a smile. "Now please-" She was cut off.

"Good." he interrupted, "I'm glad."

Again he drifted off, but Kagome quickly tapped the side of his face, waking him.

"Don't fall asleep!" she commanded a little more forcefully than she'd have liked, so softening her voice, she added, "You can't fall asleep. You need to stay awake until sunrise. Please? For me?"

"An-anyth…ing…for you…Ka…gome." he managed to choke out between waves of pain.

There was definitely internal damage, and under normal circumstances, in that era, his wounds would inevitably be fatal. But Kagome hoped, nay, prayed, that maybe, just maybe, he could make it until dawn, and then she knew he would be okay.

_I've got to keep him awake_, she thought. _I've got to talk to him, get him to talk to me_.

"Inuyasha, are you cold?" she asked suddenly, "Do you need more blankets?"

"N-no, I'm not cold." he answered, then gazing up into her tearing eyes, he added, "Feel kinda warm, actually."

Suddenly, he took her hand in his.

"Kagome…" he started softly.

_No, no no no! _she screamed in her head. _You're not saying goodbye!_ _I won't let you! _

"Inuyasha," she blurted quickly, interrupting his would-be speech. "Tell me about, uh…tell me about yourself!"

She knew she sounded way too cheery, and mentally cringed. _Tell me about yourself? _she criticized. She could have come up with something better than _that_.

"Huh?" he asked in return, blinking in confusion.

"Anything I don't already know." Kagome explained, deciding to roll with the idea. "You don't talk about your past very often, though I think I've babbled about my life often enough for the two of us, ha-ha." Trying to fake a chuckle, she mentally cringed again.

Inuyasha realized what she was doing, though, and decided to comply in that moment, if it would make her happy.

_Anything for you, Kagome_...

"Well, there's…not much to tell, really." he began, truthfully unsure of where to start.

"Anything."

"Let's see, my father died when I was just an infant, so I never knew him, and my mother died when I was around five or six in human years."

Inuyasha could see Kagome's eyes glistening over with a new wave of tears, but he continued nonetheless. He knew her tears were ones of sympathy at the moment, and he also knew that she wanted him to talk so that he would stay awake. He didn't really know how well that was going to work in the end, but he did his best, despite the pain and overwhelming urge to sleep, to comply with her wishes.

"For about…I dunno…a century and a half or so, I wandered around without a home, learning how to fight, and how to be strong, to survive. I never had any companions, never spoke with anyone, youkai and humans both always chasing me away, always wanting me dead-"

"You're a hundred and fifty?" Kagome interrupted in surprise.

"Well, actually more like two hundred now, I guess, but I didn't age for the fifty years I was sealed." he explained, not upset by the distraction as he was traveling down a rather unpleasant memory lane.

"So, you were around a hundred and fifty when Kikyou sealed you?" she asked for clarification.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just…" she shrugged, "Never knew you were so old."

"Feh!" he snapped behind a smirk, causing the tiniest of genuine smiles to climb up Kagome's lips. "I ain't old. That's young for a youkai. I'm only around your age in demon years, ya know." he explained.

Kagome's smile widened ever so slightly. It was working, talking with Inuyasha like this; he was becoming more conscious. Maybe he could make it until sunrise after all, even though it was still close to three hours away.

"I'm sorry." he heard her mumble in that moment, her tone not devastated, but rather more nonchalant. "I interrupted you, please continue."

Now it was Inuyasha's turn to mentally cringe. "You…" he started hesitantly, "You don't really want to hear about the Kikyou stuff." he answered quietly, hoping she hadn't heard him.

"It's okay." she responded, indicating that she had, "I never really heard a lot of the details, I..." Swallowing, she added, "I'd like to."

"No you wouldn't."

"Please?"

Inuyasha looked Kagome in the eyes. She was still crying, but her expression told him that she was only concerned for his life. So he sighed, bringing her hand up to his chest, pinning it there with his own hand placed on top of hers, as he met her gaze in such a way that she thought for a brief moment that he had _love_ in his expression. Love for _her_, not Kikyou.

"The first time I met her, I just happened to be in the area. I knew nothing of the jewel, but she accused me otherwise. She..."

Kagome nodded, telling him to continue.

"She told me if I really knew nothing of it, to leave. Leave her be. I...had no reason to stay. Then I overheard that Centipede bitch talking about the jewel."

"So," Kagome started, not meaning to interrupt, but just wishing to understand, "You decided to seek the jewel then? After you heard about it? You already knew Kikyou?"

Nodding, he explained, "I didn't _know _her, I'd only met her once, and she was nothing to me but some human at the time."

Kagome nodded her understanding.

"I wanted the jewel to make myself a full-fledged youkai, you know that part already." he continued then. "When I saw Kikyou next, she knew what I was after. But…"

"But?"

"But she could never bring herself to kill me, because I was half human." he explained behind a sigh, "She just always pinned me to trees by my kimono. She kept calling me _hanyou, _which was upsetting, but she really surprised me the day she asked my name, saying she would never call me 'hanyou' again."

Kagome could not help but to smile at the way his eyes smiled at the memory.

"I…I was fascinated by her." he explained. "Something about her drew me near. I could also never bring myself to attack her. I just followed, looking for an opportunity to steal the jewel without having to kill her."

Inuyasha paused for a moment, gauging the emotions portrayed in Kagome's eyes. She nodded again, signaling him to continue.

"Part of me feared that connection…" he confessed "I…I always hid from her during the new moon."

"Why?"

"Because I always hid from _everything_ during the new moon. The time you and Shippou saw me was the first time _anyone_ had, except for my mother."

Kagome's eyes flashed with emotion again. Inuyasha paused for a moment to catch his breath, trying hard not to acknowledge the pain he was in.

_For Kagome_, he thought, _Do it for Kagome_.

"I followed her for months, and I guess you could say we eventually became friends. She called me out once, while I hid in the woods, letting me know she always knew I was there, and we talked. She was just as lonely as I was, not really being a normal human; not able to do what normal humans did."

If he didn't know any better, Inuyasha would have sworn a few of Kagome's tears were shed for Kikyou in that moment. Squeezing the hand he still held pinned against his chest, he continued.

"We became close, and spoke of how I could use the jewel, instead of becoming a full youkai, to become a full human. She'd said that, in doing so, it would purify the jewel so that it would cease to exist, allowing her a simple life, as a simple girl. I told her that I would do it, for her. I would become a normal human, so that she could become a normal human, too. She was so repressed, living the life of a priestess; she never even wore lip paint." Pausing, unsure if he should confess this little tidbit, Inuyasha swallowed before admitting, "I…I gave her my mother's lip paint."

He'd uttered the last sentence as merely a whisper, and then waited for Kagome's jealousy to strike. But instead, she only smiled brighter, and replied with how sweet that had been of him.

_Maybe she's running a fever too_... he mused, silently chuckling to himself.

"We made plans to use the jewel the next afternoon. I was anxious, but she wanted to wait until that time, so I complied. Then, around that time, I saw what I believed to be her, except now I know it was Naraku. She called me _hanyou_, in such a way that the very word was disgusting enough to cause her to vomit, and proceeded to tell me how she could never care for a creature such as myself."

He paused again when Kagome started to cry harder, and removing his hand from where it held hers, he raised it towards her face, wiping away the falling tears.

"Please don't cry."

Kagome reached up with her free hand, and placed it on top of Inuyasha's, holding his hand to her cheek.

"I never realized your life was full of so much pain, Inuyasha."

"It has a happy ending." he assured her.

"A happy ending!" Kagome was trying not to let her emotions run away with her, really she was, but she just couldn't help it. "Feeling betrayed, you stole the jewel from the village, and while making your escape with it, Kikyou appeared and fired an arrow into your heart!"

"That only ends chapter _one_ of my story…" he replied with a smirk, bringing her hand down to his lips and gently kissing it. Kagome gasped in shock. He smiled and quietly continued his autobiography, taking a cue from Miroku's storytelling ways as he made his words sound more mysterious.

"For then I met a mysterious girl from the future, who had the power to break the seal that should have held me captive forever."

Smiling down at him in return, said girl from the future replied, "I think I know the rest of the story."

Kagome tried hard to conceal the sadness her eyes still held for her fallen friend, knowing he was still losing blood, his bandages soaked and red. Holding his hand as she was, the future-born-miko couldn't help but to notice how his skin was getting colder and colder to the touch, his complexion now a pale, chalky white.

Throughout his tale his voice had become more and more whispered, as if even the act of speaking caused him pain. Then suddenly, he gasped, clinching his side, as a stabbing pain surged through his body.

"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Are you okay?"

"N-no..."

Her heart skipped a beat

"…you d-don't..." he continued shakily.

"Huh?" Blinking in confusion, Kagome had sworn he was answering 'no' in that he was not okay. "I don't what?"

"Kn-know the…_rest_ of the st-story." he managed to rasp out, the pain in his midsection suddenly getting much worse. Something internal had apparently burst.

"Inuyasha…" she sighed, gripping his hand tighter in hers, losing the battle within herself to keep more tears from falling.

"F-for then I became close friends with this girl, from the fu-future, and…she helped me learn to t-trust…and to ha-have friends." he choked out, occasionally stuttering as a sharp pain plagued his abdomen.

"Shhhhh..." Kagome attempted to soothe, "If it hurts too badly to speak, you don't have to keep-" She was cut off when he promptly continued, ignoring her concern.

"What the girl didn't kn-know, is that my fe-_feelings_…grew beyond friendship."

She gulped. "Inuyasha?"

He locked his eyes with hers, silently begging with his gaze that she let him finish what needed to be said.

"Yes…I knew she lo-loved me, but I felt obligated to appease the soul of the pri-priestess I _once_ loved." He squeezed the hand he still held, and added softly, "Until I r-realized the girl from the future…_was_ that soul."

"Inuyasha…"

"Ka…gome, Kikyou is dead. I s-see that, now. I'm…sorry...for all the t-times I…h-hurt you."

Crying more uncontrollably now, Kagome laid herself down slightly atop Inuyasha, careful not to hurt him any more.

"Inuyasha…shhhh, please stop talking. Save your strength!" she begged, partially because she could no longer bear to hear him being in such pain, but partially also because she knew Inuyasha would never confess such things to her unless...unless he were truly dying.

Taking another painful gulp of breath, he confirmed her fears, ignoring her plea that he remain silent.

"No…" he insisted, "Not until I…t-tell…you…I…aaahhhhhhh!" His words became a scream of pain as something else burst inside of him, his bandages becoming heavily soaked with thick red liquid that slowly pooled out from underneath him.

Kagome saw how his bandages were no longer doing any good, and how his lips were slowly turning blue. It was sheer willpower that was keeping him conscious when he should in all likelihood already be dead. Even in his mortal form, Inuyasha was not as weak as a normal human, and his half-youkai heritage was truly making itself known in that moment.

Now with the first hint of dawn already on the horizon, Kagome frantically screamed "Not yet!" at the top of her lungs, "Inuyasha! Don't die!" Then suddenly, he fluttered his eyes open one last time.

"Kago…ahhhh…me…I…lo-love you." And with that, he finally slipped into unconciousness.

"NO!" she cried, "We're so close! So close Inuyasha! Wake up! It's morning, look!"

She pointed toward the window to nobody but herself, as the dark velvet sky of night was slowly paling. Only the few largest and brightest of the stars remained visible within the ever lightening sky of blue, the slightest traces of orange slowly becoming more pronounced within the warming eastern sky. Kagome knew it would be about another twenty minutes or so, from the look of the horizon, before the sun itself actually breached it, and by then Inuyasha would be too far gone to recover, she realized, as he seemed to stop breathing.

_Not if I can help it_, she thought with a sudden burst of conviction in that moment, as she proceeded to administer CPR. She refused to give up on him so easily.

"Come on! Hang on! One one-thousand, two one-thousand…"

She pressed on his chest carefully, hoping he didn't have any cracked ribs because the _last_ thing she needed was to accidentally puncture a lung. After pumping his heart three times, she leaned down, tilting his head upward slightly, and pinching his nose closed with her fingers, she proceeded to cup his mouth with her own, expanding his chest with the air she blew into his lungs.

That was the scene Miroku, Sango, and Shippou walked in on, the trio having finally returned to the village. Before they had time to wonder why on Earth she was apparently kissing him while he lay possibly dead, she again proceeded to administer palpitations to his chest.

"One one-thousand, two one-thousand…" and so on.

The future-born-miko was aware of her friends' entrance, but made no notice of it as she continued in her work. Kaede had reentered as well upon hearing Kagome's loud screams, and the four friends now stared in awe as they slowly realized just what Kagome was doing.

"What's she doing?" Shippou asked the other adults.

"She appears to be blowing air into his body, to force him to breathe." realized Miroku, a sense of wonder apparent in his voice.

"And pumping on his heart, forcing it to beat." added Sango, equally amazed.

"Will that really work?" Shippou asked hopefully.

"Let us wait and see, child." Kaede answered in that moment, sounding as optimistic as the circumstances would allow. "The sun is nearly risen, so it may."

They all stared out the window as the first rays of true sunlight could suddenly be seen casting mile long shadows towards the west. It was morning.

The mock tranquility dawn attempted to offer was quickly shattered by the persistent counting of "One one-thousand, two one-thouand, three one-thousand..."

Kagome didn't dare pause in her work to look and see if his body was transforming. In that second, that mere split second that she stopped, it might mean life or death. She would know soon enough, so she kept at it. Inuyasha was so white that his body looked to be void of blood, and it very well may have been, with as much of it that could be seen in the large puddle surrounding him. It had also stained a good amount of Kagome's clothing; her once white school blouse now completely red in the front, and so wet that it clung to her skin. As she once again administered pressure to his chest, she finally began to notice something happening. His skin didn't regain any flesh tone, but his hair was fading to white, which almost gave the illusion of his skin becoming darker, except for his deathly blue lips. Kagome continued, feeling the fangs grow in his mouth as she breathed her life into him.

Okay, so he'd transformed. That meant he'd live, right? He was still unconscious, though, and also still not breathing, she realized with horror, when she finally risked pausing for the briefest of moments after his transformation had completed.

_No, no, no, NO!_ she screamed in her head, as she continued once more with her CPR.

Now that his body was stronger, Kagome also gained a stronger approach, pounding hard on his chest with her fist instead of just pressing down with her palms together. She'd seen that in medical shows, and knew that it was all right to do in desperate situations. She hit him harder, and harder, screaming his name, and then still proceeded to blow air into his body. Everyone else had already begun to fear the worst, that it was too late, but Kagome refused to give up.

Suddenly, as she blew air into his mouth, she felt his lungs begin to expand on their own, almost causing _her_ to suffocate when he inhaled the air from her lungs faster than she had been prepared to give it. Breaking away, Kagome looked down in shock as Inuyasha looked back up at her in equal shock.

Cheers of "She did it!" could be heard throughout the hut, as Inuyasha slowly raised a shaky hand to his mouth.

"Kagome?" His voice was hesitant, uncertain. "What…?"

"It's called CPR." she answered nervously, sensing his unfinished question as he continued to hold his fingers to his lips.

"She breathed her air into you!" proclaimed an ecstatically happy kitsune.

Kaede quickly shooed everyone out of the hut, leaving the two of them alone.

"Oh Inuyasha!" Kagome bellowed joyously, throwing herself down upon his body once more. "I was so, I was so…" Again she couldn't stop the tears from falling, not that she bothered to try.

"Kagome…"

At the sound of her name leaving his lips she raised her face, meeting his gaze with tears of joy streaming freely down her cheeks. Seeing this, he offered her a weak smile, and reaching up to her face, he again brushed away the falling drops.

"That's twice now…" he murmured softly, "…that you've brought me back with a kiss."

She blushed, and stuttering, the fifteen-year-old attempted to explain, "It…I…it's not _kissing_...I was-"

"CPR?" he interrupted.

"Yeah, it's something they teach in my time."

"She never ceases to amaze me, that mysterious girl from the future." he said softly, continuing with the format of his previous storytelling.

"Inuyasha?" Suddenly, it was Kagome's voice that was shaky, though physically she was the picture of health.

"Yeah?" he answered, more exhausted than anything by that point, his strength gradually returning.

"Did you, umm...did you mean what you said?"

"Kagome..." he sighed, again taking her hand to his chest, which now felt warm to the touch. "You're the only one. The only one who's ever accepted me for what I am. The only one who hasn't wanted me to change. The only one who truly, fully, loves me as I am, unconditionally."

Her blush darkened upon hearing Inuyasha state his awareness of her feelings for him so bluntly. Sighing, she closed her eyes in a failed attempt to keep yet another wave of tears from forming.

He reached up to her, and pulled her down, laying her head upon his chest so that he could stroke her hair. She complied, and relished in the closeness, the feeling of her cheek against his bare chest. Inuyasha smirked when he caught her inhaling his scent.

"Yes, I meant it." he answered her finally while continuing to stroke her hair. He then leaned his head downward slightly, so that he could rest his chin against the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you too." she whispered into him.

Chuckling, he replied softly, "I know."

Kagome looked up into his eyes to find that they truthfully reflected his words. There was a look of pure love she'd never before seen in his gaze, and it melted her heart. She could have stayed in that moment forever, not caring about eating, or sleeping, or even bathing, the fact that they were both nearly covered head to two in his blood temporarily forgotten.

"Uh-oh." he muttered suddenly, a playful gleam in his eyes.

"Uh-oh? What uh-oh?"

"I think I'm slipping away again" he explained behind a smirk, "You'd better bring me back, Kagome."

She looked at him with confusion for only a second, until an even stronger look of love, mixed ever so slightly with lust, filled his eyes. Upon seeing his _new_ expression, she instantly understood, and happily leaned over to kiss him. He met her halfway, lifting his head ever so slightly as he gently pushed her into him, his hand still on the back of her head where he'd been stroking her hair. When their lips finally parted, they were both in the shape of large smiles.

Leaning her head back down against his chest, they rested together like that for half the morning, everyone else keeping themselves busy in the village to allow the couple their privacy. Inuyasha finally stirred around midday, feeling strong enough to walk so long as he was careful not to overdo it. He was tired of lying in a puddle of blood. Standing, he offered a hand to Kagome to help her up as well before heading over to where she kept her bathing supplies.

Handing Kagome her things, he said, "Come on, we'd better go get cleaned up."

"T-together?" she stuttered, more shocked that he would be willing than embarrassed herself at the notion.

"Keh." he shrugged, then flashing her a toothy smirk, he asked, "Why not?"

"No reason!" she answered perhaps a little too eagerly, as she followed the chuckling hanyou outside the hut and down towards the nearby stream.

~ Fin ~


End file.
